WHO Says 'Deltacron' Is Not A New COVID Variant

The Director of the Office of Communicable Disease Control in the Eastern Mediterranean Dr. Abdel Nasser Abu Bakr said on Thursday that the World Health Organization (WHO) won't name Deltacron as a new variant.

Abu Bakr added that all the organization's experts who are concerned with identifying the new variants didn't define new mutations in Deltacron.

After that, he talked about Florona which means having a dual infection of flu and COVID-19, explaining that the infections of this dual infection is so limited worldwide.

It is worthy to mention that Cyprus detected a new COVID-19 strain that is a hybrid of Delta and Omicron variants last week.

The hybrid was discovered by Leondios Kostrikis, professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology, and it was named “Deltacron.”

Kostrikis explained: “There are currently omicron and delta co-infections, and we found this strain that is a combination of these two.”

Regarding naming it Deltacron, the professor highlighted that it was “due to the identification of omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes.”

Kostrikis’s team discovered about 25 cases with the new infectious blend. He added that the new variant could be more prevalent among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

He continued: “We will see in the future if this strain is more pathological or more contagious or if it will prevail.”